Evaluation of a theory-based community intervention to increase fruit and vegetable intakes of women with limited incomes

The study objectives were to increase both the stage of readiness to eat fruit and vegetables as well as the intakes of women who participated in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) for families with limited incomes. The intervention was to enhance the currently used curriculum, Eating Right Is Basic III (ERIB3), with stage-specific processes based on the Trans-Theoretical Model of readiness to change. Trained EFNEP community workers taught the enhanced curriculum to 90 mothers in the experimental county and to 53 mothers in the control county. Pre- and post-intervention measures included stages of readiness to eat fruit and vegetables and to intake as assessed by 24-hour dietary recalls and staging questions. Most women recruited into EFNEP were in Action and Preparation Stages (53.5%). Fruit and vegetable intakes showed a linear trend along with the Stage of Change for fruit and vegetable. After intervention, some combination of the ERIB3 and the fruit and vegetables-enhanced ERIB3 resulted in a reported 1/2 servings/day increase in fruits and vegetables in both the control and the experimental counties, although changes were not significant. EFNEP women also moved along the Stage of Change Continuum for fruits and vegetables in both counties. The percentage of people who ate 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables was significant, however, only in the experimental group. We encourage health professionals to apply lessons learned from this intervention and to continue to pursue theoretically based interventions to change dietary behaviors.